Ukrainian citizens will not have to pay for their journey by train linking Poland to several major cities in Germany, the Polish railway company PKP announced in a press release on Wednesday March 9.
The Polish railway company PKP has decided to make all trains connecting several major cities with Germany free for Ukrainian citizens, it said in a statement.
Since Wednesday, March 9, 2nd class carriages on the nine daily trains connecting Warsaw, Przemysl (via Krakow) and Gdynia to Berlin and Frankfurt am Oder are free for Ukrainian citizens, she said.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine and the influx of refugees, Polish Railways have increased the number of trains leaving from the Ukrainian border and made transportation free for Ukrainians. They estimate that more than 300,000 Ukrainians have benefited from it as of February 26.
A “second wave” of refugees
A Polish Deputy Foreign Minister, Pawel Szefernaker, told state television on Thursday morning that the refugees, many of whom are seen camping in train stations in major cities, want to continue their journey to other European countries.
“We are working with our EU partners to facilitate this transport ,” he said.
These are the “second wave” of refugees, who, unlike those in the first wave, have no relatives or friends in Poland, he explained.
Polish border guards reported on Thursday morning that the number of people entering Poland from Ukraine since the start of the conflict has reached 1,430,000.
The number of Ukrainians staying in Poland before the Russian attack was estimated at around one and a half million.